Millstone Shutdown Is Rally Call

WATERFORD — About 125 people from across the state demonstrated Sunday for the closing of the Millstone Nuclear Complex.

The protest, organized by Shutdown Millstone, was held Sunday in raw and blustery weather to mark the sixth anniversary of a serious accident at nuclear reactors at Chernobyl in Ukraine.

Chanting "Shut it down, shut it down," and "One, two, three, four, we don't want your waste no more," the protesters began with a ceremony at the Millstone Information and Science Center in Niantic, symbolically renaming it the "Millstone Nuclear Disinformation Center."

"Have they told us that the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has admitted that there's a 50-50 chance of a Chernobyl-like disaster in this country before the year 2000?" said Mark Schuyler, spokesman of Shutdown Millstone. "Have they told us that if there is such an incident, that full-scale evacuation is not possible? Have they told us that it is not humanly possible to build a safe nuclear reactor?"

Schuyler said Shutdown Millstone has three goals -- the immediate closing of the Millstone 1 reactor, the five-year phase-out of reactors 2 and 3, and the massive implementation of energy-saving and alternative-energy technology.

"There are safer forms of energy that don't risk as much and don't cost as much," he said. "The government should spend its money pursuing these alternatives because we can't keep building these colossal dinosaurs any more."

The rally attracted members of five other anti-nuclear groups in the state, including Connecticut Opposed to Waste, People's Action for Clean Energy, and the Coalition Against Radioactive Recklessness, as well as interested residents from towns targeted for nuclear waste dumps.

Pete Nowicki of South Windsor -- a town that has been fighting efforts to put waste dumps within its borders -- brought his daughter Rachel, 4, to the Millstone protest.

"This plant is going to be a contributor to the dump that may end up in my town," he said. "If we close the reactors, then there would be no need for a waste dump. So I'm fighting it at both ends,

so my daughter here will have a safe environment to live in later."

The demonstration ended with a short march to the Millstone complex itself, where protesters set up a solar-powered speaker system about 30 yards from the complex gates, which were blocked by six stone-faced security guards. Several speakers talked to the crowd, including Dr. Jay Gould, author of "Deadly Deceit," a book describing the health hazards of low-level radiation, and Pat Nowicki, a South Windsor resident.

"They are polluting our bodies, people," she said. "Radiation is pollution. Just because you can't see it, hear it or smell it doesn't mean it's not pollution."

Joanne Sheehan of Norwich said the rally was a good beginning.

"This is a first, so I don't think numbers are necessarily what's important," she said.